Once bitten
by random-k
Summary: They survived the mountain. But something from it stayed with them when they left.


Once bitten

* * *

_I own nothing but my own Ideas_

_They survived. But the mountain didn't leave them untouched._

* * *

Emily is going blind. It's horrible, and she hates it, as her vision slowly dims. What caused it!? What could have possibly caused it? Maybe the bite had something infectious! Maybe it's something in her genetics.

She doesn't tell anyone. She visits Jess, and she visits Matt, relieved that they are all alive, and had a chance to repair their friendship after what happened. At least, she now knows who her real friends are.

* * *

Sam is eating meat. Mike and Jess are staring at her. Understandable give she has been a vegetarian vegan for years. And here she is, stealing the meat portions of their meal, unthinkingly. The meat hits her stomach, and she goes to the bathroom to be sick.

Why would she do that?

Why did it smell so good?

* * *

Ashley can't stop hearing voices. Sometimes people she knows, sometimes a language she doesn't. Sometimes Jessica, begging for help. But it wasn't Jess. It's getting hard to think, hard to breathe. Chris helps. Chris has his own problems. Chris always hears Josh. Begging. Breaking down. Voices haunt them, as their vision goes dark.

* * *

"I'm going blind" Matt tells announces one day, while they waiting for their meals at Emily's favorite restaurant.

Jessica drops her wine. Emily gasps. Glass glitters dangerously from the table, wine soaking through the napkins.

"Please tell me you are joking."

"I wish I could."

"I am too."

They stare across the table at each other, words left hovering unsaid in the silence.

* * *

"Today I ate an entire leg of pork, and didn't throw up."

Mike stares at the text from Sam, unsure of what to say. He hasn't heard anything but the echo of whispers in months. There was a ringing sound in his ear throughout the interview, and his hearing had never recovered fully.

Sam is the same. It was said to be a result of blowing up the lodge. They do a lot of texting now.

" It was raw" Sam texts. "What the hell is wrong with me?"

Mike can not see her, through the fading vision in his eyes, nor can he hear her well, but he knows she is crying. He squeezes her hand, and gives her a hug.

* * *

Jessica has a limp. Jessica almost blind. Jessica hears things she shouldn't.

It hurts, to feel her body failing, shutting away from her. Helpless.

She tried to stop everything once. Let the thoughts slip away. But it didn't work.

She's so glad, she and Emily are friends again, that Matt's hand is at her back, steadying her, That she and Mike still text, and see each other sometimes.

She's so hungry all the time, and meat is only a fleeting satisfaction. Food,particularly vegetables taste like ash in her mouth these days.

* * *

Dontleavemedontleavemedontleaveme.

Chris can think of little else then Josh these days.

ImsorryImsorryImsorryImSorryIMSORRY

Memories are all he has now. Memories, and the terrible need to go back.

To find Josh?

There's nothing to find.

Pleasepleasepleasecomebackformedontleave

There's nothing to find.

Allalonenowallalonenowanditsyourfault

They have to go back

* * *

They go back. They tell each other it's to look for answers.

Ashley knows the truth. But if they want to believe the lies they tell to themselves, they don't have to face it.

Ashley has long since stopped trying to lie to herself. And she was the one who read the notebook.

There was a reason the stranger had tried to capture the Wendigo's.

There were reasons he could burn them. He had protections. He knew what he was doing far better then a group of scared teenagers.

It hadn't saved any of them, in the end.

He was dead. And they hadn't left the mountain as unaffected as they thought.

* * *

There are some teenagers who are smoking weed up ahead.

They ignore them for now.

But it is easy to get hungry on this mountain.

Matt hopes they will won't stay here.

He's not sure if he means them or the teens.

Maybe both.

These mountains are cursed after all, and do not belong to humans.

* * *

I saw_ these facts below, and wondered if Josh was haunted by a wendigo spirit before the start of the main game. Throughout the game, he's haunted by Hill, and in chapter 10, we see the twins, and hear a lot of voices before and when we take control. Of course, Mike also likely blew up the sanatorium at the end of nine, so it could have happened then too._

_Still, there were reasons the stranger avoided eradicating them through burning, and while he may have known ways to protect himself from possession, they didn't. _

_-One of the first thing's physically affected by a wendigo-possessed person is vision._

_-people in the process of becoming a Wendigo hear voices, so many it's almost impossible to hear yourself think clearly._

_-When starving in a Wendigo-Haunted area, the spirit will turn your dreams into a distorted, green-tinted version of reality, where it can speak through people you know._

_-The Wendigo can influence what you say when possessing someone._

_-Male-possessed Wendigos have a lower screech than females._


End file.
